Some Hot Fishing & The Case of the Missing Terns: Week 7

Some Hot Fishing & The Case of the Missing Terns: Week 7

by | Jul 17, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

WEEK 7 UPDATE

SUMMERTIME FISHING UPDATE AND THE CASE OF THE MISSING TERNS

First, the terns. The Common Tern is a striking beautiful and elegant bird: sleek in design, graceful in flight, wearing a smart black cap and sporting a very sharp red bill that leads the bird’s watery plunge to capture small fish. They are often seen flying with their small, silvery trophies. Just a very cool bird. We have been graced at Scott Lake Lodge with a colony of Common Terns within sight of our island. Every year they arrive and depart (early June and mid-August) on the same day. This has happened for the three decades of current ownership and probably for countless decades before. Except for this year. They arrived on time, and everything was normal with their excited vocalizations and aerial dances delighting our guests and staff. Then one day just over a week ago they were gone. All gone. Not a feather could be found on their breeding site, a non-descript exposed cobble reef perhaps sixty by ten feet and only a couple of feet above the water line. They had prospered there for years. Avian influenza? Their sworn enemy, the herring gulls? A parasitic jagger wandering by from it more northerly home? A mink, pine marten or wolverine that swam to their home? Only questions. No answers. A Scott Lake mystery. Our terns will be missed and remembered.

What’s not a mystery is why so many of the homo sapiens species return every year to their summertime fishing home. It’s obvious. They love the fishing, the food, the world class guiding and customer service, the serenity of our pristine wilderness backyard and of course the warm companionship of like-minded people. Our Week 7 guests had all of the above. The summertime fishing was wonderful. The catching wasn’t the best of the year, but it wasn’t the worst either. Sometimes good is simply good enough and it was. There were 99 trophy fish brought to the boats with plenty of heavyweights led by Nick Manship’s 46” pike. His dad, Mike Manship, on the last day weighed in with a fat 45. Other 45s were taken by Don Mewhort, Russ Gesme and, of course, Peter Myhre who continued his torrid run through the Scott Lake Lodge fly out lakes. Peter loves climbing into our vintage (but trusty) De Havilland Beaver, GQD, and exploring some of the nine million acres of northern Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories that we call home. What a week he had. On his first and second days of fishing he landed seven trophy pike (yes each day). On his third he got six. Then he had to rest on the fourth due to the wild storm that shut down for a day not only our fly outs but nearly all of the fishing on our main lake. Over his three five-days trips to Scott this season Peter has landed 47 trophy pike, an astonishing number. And he is coming back for more later this season. Tom Granneman and Russ Gesme were also into the multiple trophy game, getting nine trophy pike on a single day. Ron Donnall and Alan Carney had plenty of big pike also, each landing a 44-incher.

The lake trout summertime fishing action picked up considerably this week. It helped Tom Kehoe with his quest to join the 100+Club. Tom landed a 39” laker that with a big pike and grayling gave him 100 total inches from those three fish. His fishing buddy, Mike Sackash, had trophies of all three species and got the Trophy Triple hat but just missed the 100” mark. Other big trout were taken by Mickey and Randy Moret. The Kings of the Trout for the week though were two first-timers, the father/son team of Mike and Nick Hylant. They really got into vertical jigging for lake trout, a technique preferred by some guides. It worked. On a single day they landed 101 lake trout. Mike ended up with two trout trophies at 36 and 37 inches. Both anglers enjoyed a trophy experience with almost constant bent rods. They also had plenty of pike action.

The summertime fishing excitement wasn’t limited to fish. On a fly out to Smalltree Lake, all four of the visiting anglers—Tom Kehoe, Mike Sackash, Tom Granneman and Russ Gesme—watched a lone bull muskox swim across the Dubwant river. When the huge animal hit shallow enough water to walk he was a raging bull throwing a “bow wake” comparable to their boats. Check out this National Geographic quality video .

Lot of fish. Lots of fun. Wonderful memories were made. We expect most of our guests will return to our island next summertime fishing season, just as we hope our terns will come back to their rocky home.

JULY 15

Mike, along with his son Nick and Poacher, had quite a week. They always look to explore the north and catch some fish doing it. This 45 incher was an awesome catch.

JULY 14

Here we have some folks enjoying The Tundra Trail with Tom Klein. It is an incredible hiking loop in the Northwest Territories.

July 13

Can you even imagine this 46″ GIANT eating a topwater bait in 12″ of water?? Chaos!!!

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Scott Lake Lodge Living: Week 6 Update

Scott Lake Lodge Living: Week 6 Update

by | Jul 12, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, fly fishing, Island Life, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

WEEK 6 UPDATE

THE RHYTHMS OF SCOTT LAKE LODGE LIVING

It’s been a month now since the first floatplane landed at our dock on this magical island in the wilderness border country between the endless tundra of the Northwest Territories and the boral forests of northern Saskatchewan. Life has now settled into predictable, satisfying rhythms. The island wakes up around 6:30 AM when breakfast service begins, and the guides start filling their coolers and getting their gear set for the fishing day. Around 7:00 AM the pilots fuel their planes for the first flyouts at 7:30 AM. The breakfast traffic in Laker Lodge is hitting it’s stride around now and the activity across the island is picking up. Between 7:30 AM and 8:30 AM our anglers are stepping into their guide’s boats for a day’s fishing on Scott Lake or it’s two adjacent lakes, Wignes and Premier, or climbing aboard our Beaver and Otter floatplanes for a trip even deeper into the empty lands to the north. Then by 9:00 AM the island rests with all the guests and guides off on their daily adventures. The kitchen, hospitality and maintenance staff members relish the quiet and begin their daily activities keeping the island running perfectly and preparing the rooms and the dinner for the return of the anglers and guides around 6:00 PM. Everyday for 95 consecutive days these patterns unfold with a crescendo of energy and excitement after the evening dining when the trophy announcements detail who caught what where. The showing of all the big fish landed that day on the two TV screens in the dining room puts a capstone on yet another day of life at Scott Lake Lodge.

So, what did our Week 6 guests see on those screens last week? Plenty of big fish for sure. We had a good week but not a great week of fishing. It was week of unstable weather with a bouncing barometer, lots of wind changes, and precious little sunshine. Not the formula for the kind of pike fishing we expect here. It begs the question: How can a fish be some violently voracious sometimes and with some rapid weather changes become a shy little puggy dog hiding in the corner. Forget what a biologist might say. Pike act like emotional, sensitive creatures, reacting petulantly to any change in their environment. They like everything “just right” which means warm, stable and sunny conditions. Things haven’t been just right for a few weeks. Our guides had to dig deep and count on the patience of our anglers. Both did their job.

The trophy count at 99 big fish was lower than many weeks but there were some dandy pike taken. Twenty of those trophies were pike over 44”. Long time guests Peter and Kay Myhre together landed eight of those twenty. And Peter added four more at 45”, a remarkable run of big pike. Lots of our guests get into that class of 44-inchers: Brendan Ysura, Charlie Crawford, Jeff Parts, Nate Valenti, Josh Makal, Tarek Arafat found two 44″ pike on his trip as well. Nate Sonstegard had his personal best pike at 45” only to top it a few minutes later with a 45.5”. Brendan Ysursa hit his personal best with a 46-incher. At the very top of the pike parade this week was Nate Valenti who got a perfectly proportioned 47-incher on the same day he got three other trophy pike. Brian Kozlowski, Justin Philips and Peter Myhre also had four trophy days.

It was a weak week in the lake trout department. This is the transition period from cruising the shallow sandbars to their summer homes in the deep holes (70-150’) on Scott and the flyout lakes. In this in between time it’s tough to target lakers. Only Todd Phillips got a trophy laker this week. Things were quiet on the grayling front as well. Only the New Fly Fisher TV production team went after the arctic sailfish. The show hosts, a father/daughter team of Jeff and Alyx Parks, caught a bunch with an 18-incher their biggest. They also landed on camera some very nice pike including a 44-incher by Jeff. Watch for that show next winter. We will be sending out a reminder when it airs.

The week in summary: not the best week we’ve had, not the worst. We just take what the weather and fishing activity offers and encourage our guests to enjoy every fish, every meal, every shorelunch, every sighting of a loon, osprey or eagle, and every moment in this pristine wilderness. Every week is a good week to be at Scott Lake Lodge. No one gets on the floatplane back to civilization with anything but wonderful memories of an escape into a rhythm of life that only happens in the far north.That’s what lodge living is all about.

JULY 10

Sometimes the biggest part is just about spending some quality time in the boat with your family.

JULY 9

Brendan Ysursa caught this 44″ pike today in outdoorsman fashion. Some rain didn’t stop the fish from biting.

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JULY 7

Shoutout to Marcus who got his first pike on the fly!

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The Momentum Continues: Week 5 Update

The Momentum Continues: Week 5 Update

by | Jul 6, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike

THE BIG MO

Trophy Fish Excellence

Momentum is a wonderful thing. We had big time momentum coming out of Week 4 when a season high (and one of our all-time highs) of 195 trophy fish were landed. The first day of fishing Week 5 picked right up where fishing Week 4 left off: it was gangbusters. The new group put 53 trophies in the boats on the first day, a top daily number for the season, and 44 on the second. The big pike were ravenous. Over those two days of warm weather four 44s, three 45s, four 46s and a 47 appeared on our nightly big fish of the day screening. That’s a season’s worth of big pike at most lodges. Then the temperatures dropped and so did our trophy fish totals, but we still managed to hit 131 for the group, not shabby at all. We did have some smoke in the air over the first three days which compromised the sight-fishing, but it didn’t seem to bother the pike. As long as the temperatures stay up so do the pike totals. And this was an almost all pike week. There were only a handful of lake trout and grayling (a dozen to be exact) landed.

Two of that dozen deserve a special mention. On the fourth day of our five-day “weeks” we had a Big Blow. The wind was ripping at over 40 miles and hour and the waves were a bit daunting. Most of our anglers liked the comforts of the lodge for that day with some card games at Laker Lodge, hikes on our Tundra Trail or just relaxing with a sauna or a book. But some did go out. Two of those brave guests were Julianne Harris and Chris Cervantes. They didn’t go far from the lodge. They didn’t have two. About two hundred yards from our main dock, they were trolling for lake trout in about 30 feet of water. Both got the lake trout of their lives, a supersized 40 and three-quarters for Julie and a 41 for Chris. Those were the only fish trophies of the day.

Our guests will probably remember those early days of the week when big fish seemed to be everywhere. It was a remarkable surge of wild action with so many quality fish. The big pike were the story. So many! Trophy northern pike of 44” were landed by Jim Kloote, Chris Cervantes, Adam Garvanian and Dave Morales II; 45s by Donna Quincey, Julianne Harris, and Susan Edwards; 46s by Dale and Jordan Pryor (same day), Jim Kusar and Steve Kozlowski. The best big fish story of the week though had to be Donna Quincy’s. On her first ever northern fishing trip she made her first ever pike catch quite memorable—a 47” monster. Yes, her first pike ever. She asked politely when it was in the net if it was a “big one”. Yes, Donna it was. Many hard-core pike anglers have fished for decades without getting one that big. She added a 45.5” trophy fish on the same day. Way to go Donna!

As it happens often, the big fish turn on at the same time. We had many examples of multiple trophies on the same day. Julianne Harris and Chris Cervantes really like Wignes Lake, a big lake connected to Scott and fished right from our dock. On two days they took the boat ride with wonderful results: nine pike trophies on one day and five on the other. A relatively new addition to our fishing empire, Wignes has become a popular destination for our guides. Our fly out lakes continue to pop out a lot of big fish. On Selwyn Lake the father/son team of Dale and Jordan Pryor landed eight northern pike trophies in a single day with two 46s. Another father/son team of Bruce and Steve Kozlowski got a cool dozen on the same lake with Steve getting a 46. (They also got five together on Sandy Lake.) Adam Garvanian and Andy Nardo picked up eight on Selwyn. Kevin and Susan Edwards got a mixed bag of six pike and grayling on Smalltree Lake. On the far east end of huge Wholdaia Lake, Gerry O’Brien and Andrew Troop got their mixed bag of nine trophies with all three of our species represented. Gerry earned his Trophy Triple hat there. Lots of big trophy fish. Lots of great memories, both on and off the water. It’s what we do at Scott Lake Lodge.

JULY 5

On his last day, Jordan reeled in this 40 inch fatty,

JULY 4

Sometimes you catch em’ right beside the lodge! Chris got this 41.5″ trout without going too far.

JULY 3

Andy and Paulie had a great time on a flyout lake today. Andy caught this beautiful pike and many more to go with it.

JULY 2

Steve and J5 found this 46.5″ Trophy Pike today on a flyout. Wow.

JULY 1

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The Goretex Gang: Week 2 Update

The Goretex Gang: Week 2 Update

by | Jun 23, 2023 | 2023 Season, Arctic Grayling, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Website Fishing Blog

If only . . . If only the entire week could have been like the fourth day of our Week 2 adventure. On that day we were gifted the most precious far-north commodity—bright sunshine. The sun on the water woke up the big pike and brought them scattered from deep water to bask in the shallows. Amazingly, it only took one day. And with sunlight, you could see the big pike in the shallows! For our anglers, it was a glorious day. For the after-dinner trophy announcements at the main lodge, the stack of trophy slips filled out by the guides was thick, 38 slips thick. That’s a lot of big fish for a single day (for some lodges further south of here that could be a week’s, a month’s or even a season’s total). And they came in bunches. There were four-packs of trophy pike for Rory Wright who landed a 44” and 45.5-incher, and Jeff Berg, who landed the biggest pike of this young season at 47.5”. There were three-packs of pike for Abe Martinez, Vinnie Purpura, Don Luke and Erik Luke. There was even Julie Heinmiller’s 40-inch trout thrown in for good measure. It was a hell of a day, but historically not an unusual day for the spring fishing at Scott.

Unfortunately, it was our only day in the sun. The other days, well to put it in a single phase—they sucked. It was cold, rainy or windy or all three simultaneously. Our anglers often had to work hard and fly far to find fish. Despite the tough conditions, there were fish landed on other days. We had a total of 115 trophy fish, not bad. Don and Eric Luke each landed four big pike trophies on Day 3, Don with a 44” and Eric with a 45.75” pike (now that’s a tight tape). On the same day, Jeff Quick landed three pike trophies including a 45-incher. Jeff Berg got a 47 (yes, he got two monsters on his trip). On Day 2 Conrad Schmidt caught four trophy pike. Notable fish were scattered throughout the week. One of our rare “first timers” at Scott, Al Malinowski, got his first ever big pike on his second day here and it was a dandy at 45-inches. There were 44-inchers taken by John Heinmiller, Abe Martinez, Peggy Light, Chris Luke and Jeff Quick. On the last day Ross Purpura Jr, not far from the lodge, brought a fat 47-incher into his guide’s net.

Given the high winds and limited sight conditions a lot of guides and anglers opted to troll for lake trout. There were many hundreds landed. Among those trout were some good ones. Ross Purpura Jr got a 38” laker; Ross Sr got a 37.5” lake trout; Peter Schmidt got in the trout game with a 37; Connie Schmidt landed a pair of 36.5-inchers; Judy Schmidt scored a 36-incher. The big 40-inch trout for Julie Heinmiller, along with a big 18.5” grayling and a nice 43.5” pike, gave her the first 100+Club membership of the season at 101.5 total inches for her trophy trout, grayling and big pike. Congrats to Julie.
So, despite having to bundle up against the wind, rain and cold our group did great in the fish department. And they all were determined to make the best out of some tough conditions. Our hats are off to them. Next time we hope they get only one day of rain instead of one day of sun. Then they can enjoy our marvelous shore lunch experiences and the sight-fishing we’re famous for. Of course, as all anglers know you fish what you get and our gang did just that, quite successfully.

June 19

Abe and Poach were found some in the bays today

June 17

Jeff and J5 worked with the elements to get this big ol’ 46 inch Northern.

June 17

Julie got into some shiny arctic grayling today. Her biggest being an 18.5″ beauty.

June 15

Judy and Jan found a rainy day pike on beautiful Ingalls Lake

JUNE 19

Casey Johnston found this awesome pike in the sun!

The Long Wait is Over: The Week 1 Update

The Long Wait is Over: The Week 1 Update

by | Jun 16, 2023 | 2023 Season, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Website Fishing Blog

It had been 270 days since the last group of the 2022 fishing season stepped off the dock at Scott Lake Lodge and climbed in our floatplanes to head south. For all our staff and the many Scott Lake Lodge regulars, the wait for the new 2023 fishing season is a long one. But there is magic in the waiting. Stories are told and retold; that next deadly lure or fly is purchased and admired long before it hits the water; travel arrangements are made, and in the weeks just before departure, the anticipation hits a fever pitch. So it was with just over two dozen anglers who opened our 2023 fishing season on June 9th. They arrived at Scott on a beautiful blue-sky day. Unfortunately, that was the only blue sky they saw for the next five days. But they were watching for fish at the end of their lines not gazing at clouds. The cloudy and dark days did compromise the sight fishing for pike but plenty of pike and lake trout added their own sight to the equation and provided some classic northern Canadian angling.

Our opening day was warm and inviting. The south wind was what we always hope for to bring a warm wind. This one brought some smoke as well, but it didn’t bother the fish or the anglers. While there were twenty trophies brought to the guide’s hands, there was one very memorable catch. Twelve-year-old Anthony Ragone has been dreaming of being a Canadian fishing guide. He has some hoops to jump through with immigration. But catching a big pike on your first day of fishing in Canada can happen. And it did. Anthony handled a scrappy 41” pike like a pro and created a lifetime memory. His dad, Lou, landed a 40 incher the same day. Anthony is permanently hooked. It will be hard to go back to bluegills and perch. We had a great opening day with twenty-two trophies tallied. Chase Masuga had a big day, bringing in six trophy pike. His top fish was a 45.5” fatty. Peter Myhre a long-time guest with a knack for catching big pike had a nice string of five trophy pike with his biggest of the day at 43”. Peter ended up with a total of 14 trophy pike for his trip. Not his record but a very respectable number. There were some heavy-weights in the batch of 82 trophies for the week. Scott Manley and fishing partner Sam Hanna landed back-to-back 44” pike; Rob Shaffalo got a 45-incher and Ken Conley pulled in a dandy 46. But the fish of the week was another 46 that may turn out to be one of the heaviest pike of the2023 fishing season. On Premier Lake, another adjacent boat-to lake, Nathan Heiter looked down in a quiet bay and saw a “wolf pack” of big pike. Big pike are typically loners, but this was an impressive group of fish that were all way over 40”, our trophy mark. Fortunately, he threw his spinner to the biggest one. After an impressive battle a very impressive pike went into the guide’s big net. It didn’t look like a 46-incher because it had such an incredible girth. We get a lot of pike around here over 45” (124 last season alone). Most of those will have a girth of 16 or 17 inches. Occasionally we see a jumbo that tapes 19. Rarely does one, even the 48 to 50-inchers, pull the tape to 20”. That’s a fat fish! Nathan’s pike measured 21.5 inches around a belly that went from pectoral fin to caudal fin with essentially the same girth. It was simply a spectacular slob of a fish. What makes it so unusual is that a pike in June tends to be a bit skinnier than the same pike in August or September when they really put on the feedback getting ready for winter. If caught again this fall Nathan’s fish will be even more amazing. Everyone will be looking for that porker. Big pike weren’t the only story for the week. Early June is when the water temperature allows lake trout to cruise anywhere on the lake they want. They are comfortable in temps around 50 degrees, right where most areas of our lakes were sitting this week. Hundreds of lakers were landed, many while casting and many more while flat-line trolling just under the surface. Paul Hanna led the trout parade. His gorgeous spring trout hit our super-sized mark of 40-inches. A year ago Paul landed a 49” pike during our first week. He loves the early season. There were many other trophy trout (our trophy standard is 35”) this week: John Goebel and Patrick Goebel got a pair each while Lou Ragone, Tom Goebel and Chase Masuga all landed a trophy laker.

Bottom line: it was a wonderful opening week with very little sunshine and a determined group of anglers that faced cold and windy weather like pros. It wasn’t the sunniest opening week of our 25-year history, but it featured great numbers and enough big fish to keep everyone’s excitement level nice and high. At the main lodge the dinner hour echoed fish stories throughout the room. After dinner hour we had more stories and songs and a general excitement about the time and place we were all in. That’s what a fishing trip is all about—fish stories and the warmth of friendships created and or enhanced in an intimate wilderness setting. Add the world-class customer service that Scott Lake Lodge is famous for, and you have the ingredients of a fantastic week. Despite some tough conditions everyone left the lodge with a big smile. Just ask any of our Week 1 guests: the long wait was worth it.

The trout are biting!

June 13

Ken and Biff with this dandy 46″

Alexa & G found this huge 43″Pike today in the shallows

Poacher & Nathan found this huge gal on Scott today!

June 10

Chase and guide Josh found a honey hole today! This 45.5″ toad was the biggest pike of the season so far!

June 9

The Scott Lake ladies watching the first planes of 2023 touch down.